Dead Men Don't Talk
by TheBlueSheep
Summary: "Dead men don't talk," continued the man, then stood up and faced the gravestone. "Neither do they eat manju. Which is why I made a promise instead." - Otose might have been old, but she wasn't stupid. What made her trust a man she picked up from the graveyard; who made a silly promise over a few manju? No pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Gintama and its character don't belong to me. They belong to the amazing Sorachi Hideaki.

**Rating:** T

**Pairings: **None.

**Author's notes**: For the first part of the first part of the assumably first chapter I borrowed some lines from the manga and the anime. Everyone reading this probably already know that part, so I tried to keep it short. Everything that comes after that is my imagination screwing me over. Please bear with it. It's really not as bad as it sounds. I just really suck at explaining myself. Oh, and the title... I know... I've failed the whole mankind with that cliche.

* * *

**Dead Men Don't Talk**

**Chapter 1**

It was a cold winter day. The snow was silently falling onto the gravestones. On a whim, Otose had decided to go to the graveyard to visit her late husband's grave. She had brought some manju as an offer. She set them down in front of the tombstone and was almost ready to leave.

"Hey, granny?" a voice suddenly asked. Otose looked up and saw an old man with grey hair sitting, his back leaning against the gravestone. "Are those manju? Can I have them? I think I'm about to die from starvation."

His grey hair certainly looked like an old man's, but his voice was that of a young one. "They don't belong to me," she said, surprised by the contradiction. "They belong to my husband. You should ask him."

"Is that so?" said the man, and without asking, took the manju and ate them all.

"So, what did my husband say?"

The man raised his head and admitted, "No idea. Dead men don't talk."

"Don't blame me if he curses you," she sighed.

"Dead men don't talk," continued the man, then stood up and faced the gravestone. "Neither do they eat manju. Which is why I made a promise instead. I won't ever forget this debt. Granny here probably doesn't have that much time left. So, from now on, until she kicks the bucket, I'll watch over her in your place."

He turned and Otose could see why there was such a conflict between his hair and his voice. It was a young man at most 20 years old, probably even younger. He had unusual curly grey hair and red eyes that seemed dead to the world. However, thanks to years of experience, Otose could see the pain behind his apathy. Those were the eyes of an already broken man at the age of 20. A drowning man grasping for a single straw.

"You'll watch over me, you say?" she smiled. The man smiled back. Otose could just barely see his hesitation in that. "Alright, let's see what you can do then. However, I can't have such a dirty-looking watchdog. Come with me. The owner must see to it that her dog is in good health. I'm Otose. What's your name?"

"Sakata Gintoki."

She nodded, then turned and walked away, not looking back. She didn't need to. She could hear him following. Exhausted, starving, and probably also freezing, for he was wearing only a ragged yukata and the weather had got even colder by the time they left the graveyard, his breathing was a little heavier than normal, but not once did he complain.

Ever since the war ended, there had been a lot of war veterans around. Every single one of them had a broken soul reflected by the pain in their eyes and none of them was carrying a sword. Partly it was because of the sword ban, but that wasn't all. It seemed like, after seeing most of their friends and comrades die, they were done with their fight. Not wanting to take part of this rotten world again, they just lived their lives, trying to just stay alive for yet another day. Sure, there were also those all-out patriots who, never wanting to give up, still tried to change the country with random acts of terrorism, but there were only a few of such organisations left. Most of them had disbanded when the war ended and the ones still functioning were small and weak, leaded by some idiots who obviously didn't know when to give up, and so they didn't really make that much of a difference.

The man following Otose seemed to be one of those veterans whose soul was broken by the war. However, even though he was exhausted, without a sword, and had clearly given up on the war, he still carried himself with a certain grace. Like a master swordsman. A true samurai. Maybe there was still hope to save this young man from fatalism, thought Otose. Anyhow, right now, that whatever grace he had, looked more like a force of habit, carved into his body, so maybe there was nothing she could do anymore. At least she could still give him a warm meal and something to wear so that he wouldn't freeze to death in the winter if he decided not to keep his promise and flee. Otose wouldn't have minded or been surprised by that either. It seemed as if he had seen too much and broken too many promises in his young life to keep a new one. She didn't think he was a bad person, though, just weary and cautious.

"I have a bar in Kabukicho, that's where we're going," said Otose, finally breaking the silence. The fact that he hadn't even asked where they were heading made her a little uneasy. The man only nodded. He seemed to have some trouble with keeping up. It didn't surprise her. Being out in this weather for who knows how long with an empty stomach and ragged clothes, of course he'd have trouble keeping up with her relatively fast pace. "It's not too far away anymore," she said and slowed down a bit. For a fraction of a second, there was a slight sign of gratitude on his face.

"Why would you pick up a stranger and show him where you live? I could very well be a simple thief for all you know. It wouldn't be that hard to rob an old lady from everything," he asked, confused.

"I guess I'm just a soft-hearted old woman. I couldn't leave a man to die to the side of the road no matter if he is someone I know or not. Besides, you don't look like you would steal anything from me."

He smiled. "You're going to be used by somebody one day if you keep offering manju to strays and showing them where you live."

"You're probably right about that," chuckled Otose. "But then again, if nobody offered manju to the strays, this town would become boring. Kabukicho is the place where the trash is. People, who have no other place to go, usually end up in here. This town has no rules whatsoever. No real law reaches here. Most people, who still cherish their lives, have made their own set of rules, their basis of life, so to say, to which they keep true to. This is why Kabukicho is the perfect place for the broken."

"The broken, huh?" he sounded sad even though he was smiling. "Guess that's exactly what I am now."

Otose realised her mistake and shut up. There was no need to remind him of his situation. She wondered why he had been in the graveyard in the first place. Was someone he knew buried there? More likely he just didn't want to get in anyone's way when he died. No better place to die than the graveyard, he might have thought. No, there was no way she could've guessed what went through his head behind those dead fish eyes.

x

They had made it to the Snack Otose without exchanging another word. She gave Gintoki a towel and a new kimono and showed him to the bathroom. He wanted to decline at first but Otose said not to worry and that she would extort the money from him later, to which he muttered a few words of thanks before spending the next half an hour in the shower. When he came out again, finally clean, she saw that his hair wasn't grey after all. His head was actually covered with a huge fluffy mass of silver hair. He didn't look so broken anymore, either. To be honest, he looked more like a tired and hungry child, cranky after hiking in the wild for the whole day, than like a man exhausted after having survived fighting in the war for a couple of years.

Otose gave him a bowl of rice but saw him being consumed by exhaustion and a rising fever even as he ate, so as soon as he was done, she led him to an unused bedroom in the back of the bar.

"Sorry for the trouble," said Gintoki, lying on his futon.

"Didn't I already tell you that the owner must see to it that her dog is in good health? Don't worry about it. I'll make sure you work your ass off for me later."

"First money, now work. You really know how to use people, huh?" mumbled Gintoki.

"Go to sleep already, you unthankful bastard. Get rid of that fever so that I_ could_ actually use you later. Now, unlike some unemployed person, I have a bar to keep so you just stay put and rest tonight."

She didn't really like the idea of leaving a sick person alone, but the bar really did need keeping and she figured that Gintoki would rather be alone right now, too. She just had to hope he'd sleep through the night and that his fever wouldn't rise while she was gone.

x

The bar was unusually lively that night. She had hoped to spare a few minutes to check on Gintoki, but it turned out to be impossible. By the time she wanted to close up, there were still a few people left, most of them too drunk to hold a meaningful conversation for more than a couple of seconds. Still, all but one managed to understand enough to leave when she told them to. The one who stayed was an odd one. He had come in an hour or so ago and had ordered only one drink. After that he had placed himself to the furthest corner of the counter and dozed off. Although he looked like he was sleeping, every once in a while he opened one of his eyes and glared nervously at other people in the bar. Otose might have been old, but she wasn't stupid. Quietly, she reached under the counter and took out a baseball bat. Keeping it hidden, she then went to wake up the man, but as soon as she reached to him, there was a sound of metal slithering against wood and she found herself facing a very nervous man with a very sharp blade. Always a bad combination.

"Are you sure you really want to do this?" she asked carefully.

"Shut up! I need the money. So please, just give me the money and I won't have to hurt you."

Knowing it wouldn't do any good against a sword anyway, Otose let go of the bat and took out a cigarette instead. She lit it up and inhaled slowly.

"H-hey, hurry up! I haven't got all night! Or do you need a little encouragement?" he raised the sword higher.

She exhaled the smoke. The man looked way too nervous to be a professional robber. This was most likely his first time.

"Why are you doing this? Wouldn't it be better to lead an honest life?"

"Shut up! Don't start with that honest life crap! You don't know what I've been through! If you're not going to give me the money then I'll just k-kill you and take it myself. I-it's that simple."

"You're not much of a thief, are you? Don't you know that stuttering while making threats isn't too convincing? Trust me, you'd be better off if you just left."

His eyes suddenly turned cold and calculating. She knew that's when he became really dangerous.

"Alright, then," he said coldheartedly, readying his sword for a deadly slash. She saw it coming closer and closer. There was no way she could dodge it. Otose prepared herself for pain, closing her eyes.

But the pain never came. Instead, when she opened her eyes again, all she could see was a familiar huge mass of curly silver hair. Gintoki had captured the blade with his left hand. The sword had cut into his palm and the blood was dripping, but it didn't seem like he was bothered by that. Instead he twisted his hand and the sword's tip broke off.

"Hey, dickface," he hissed, death in his voice. Then he punched him square in the face with his right fist, sending the man flying across the room. He landed with a huge crash onto a table which broke in half. Gintoki leapt lightly over the counter, walked up to the man, and picked him up from his collar.

"Y-you're... S-Shiroyasha?" gasped the man. His nose was broken and bleeding furiously.

Gintoki raised an eyebrow. "You know who I am?"

"Y-yes, sir," he answered, "I o-once fought in the same battle as y-you, sir."

"So you also know what I can do to you, right?"

"Y-y-yes, sir," he whispered, clearly afraid for his life now.

"Whoa, this makes it so much easier. Which faction were you in?"

"T-the Kiheitai, s-sir. A p-private, sir," He was trembling badly now.

"The Kiheitai, huh? Doesn't really sound like Takasugi to take in lowlifes like you even if he is an asshole," Gintoki admitted. Then he smirked. "You know that Takasugi would've just cut you down right then and there? And I gotta admit, I wouldn't have interfered, either."

The man winced. "P-please, have mercy, Shiroyasha-sama. I have a pregnant wife waiting for me at home!"

"Mercy? Wazzat? Never heard of that. Were it up to me, I'd just kill you. It's a pain not killing you. It would be so much simpler. However, luckily for you, it wasn't me you attacked and so I don't get to decide if your head will end up in a different corner than your body. So," he turned to Otose, who was calmly smoking her cigarette. "What do you want to do with this trash?"

His words were harsh and he was emitting a deadly aura, but his eyes were begging: _Please don't make me kill another person._ She knew he would kill if she told him to. Otose sighed.

"Today the recyclable trash goes out. Burnable trash goes out tomorrow. You'd better remember that."

He nodded and, dragging the man behind him, went to the shoji, opened it and threw him out. His broken sword followed him only seconds after.

"Go home to your wife and get a job so you wouldn't have to do stupid shit like this again. It would be sad if your child would have to grow up without a father. We have enough miserable orphans in this world." Then he closed the shoji.

"Th-thank you, Shiroyasha-sama!" sounded through the closed shoji doors. Otose could imagine him being on his knees, his head to the ground.

Gintoki turned and looked at the broken table. "Tch. What a mess."

"Is your hand okay?" Otose asked.

"Hm?" Gintoki looked at his hand and seemed surprised upon finding it bleeding. "Oh. Yeah, it's fine. The cut is shallow."

"That's good," She took out a first-aid kit, motioned him to sit down and started to clean the wound. She was relieved to find that the wound was indeed shallow, but felt worried about his burning skin. His fever was rising again.

"I thought I told you not to move tonight," said Otose shaking her head.

"And who said I was an obedient dog? Besides, didn't I already tell you I'd watch over you? Geez, granny, did you forget already? What's up with that? Do you have Alzheimer's or something?"

Otose started bandaging his hand.

"Shiroyasha, was it?" She felt him tensing up hearing that name. "That's quite the nickname you have made for yourself."

"I never wanted that name," Gintoki said quietly. "It's just that before I even knew it, everyone already called me that. It's hard to get rid of fitting nicknames," he shrugged.

Otose nodded, accepting that explanation. She figured it wouldn't be a good idea to pry into his past too much. Even she had heard some distant rumours about the legendary White Demon. She finished bandaging his hand.

"Now get back to bed before you receive any more brain damage from the fever."

* * *

**Author's notes**: This is my second fanfiction. And with this I've already mostly broken my promise of writing only one-shots because I'm thinking of going further into how Otose started to trust Gintoki and stuff. I just hope I won't lose my motivation.

If I do decide to write a second chapter I'm afraid it'll take a while. Right now, since I just graduated, there's this crazy time in my life where I have to choose a future for myself. Gahh, it's a pain.

Anyway, please review. I love nice reviews and I can also take a little critic here and there and I will try to learn from my mistakes. Can't promise anything, though. Also, English is not my first language, so don't kill me for my grammar mistakes. I will fix them if you tell me, though.

By the way, did you know that 30 Seconds to Mars is perfect for writing stuff?


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Gintama.

Everything else is written before the first chapter. Too lazy to write them again.

**Author's notes: **First of all, thank you all who bothered to review, so much. You made my day. I replied to every one of them personally (except the anonymous ones, but I'm really grateful for those too), but there was a question I think I should give an answer to.

**Strawwwberrylollipop** told me that I should write more about what Otose was thinking. Thank you for your opinion, I really appreciate it, but unfortunately, I won't be able to follow it. First, it wouldn't fit my writing style, and second, I must confess, I'm a little afraid of going too ooc with that. So you'll just have to bare with me not telling Otose what to think. **  
**

To be honest, I'm kind of amazed that I managed to finish the second chapter. And sooner than I thought, too. So, without further ado, here it is.

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**Chapter 2**

It took Gintoki a week before he could stand up again without feeling dizzy and ten days until he could stay out of bed for longer than just a trip to the bathroom. At times, his fever had risen so high that Otose was afraid he was going to die even though she had just saved him. To make matters worse, he couldn't sleep properly either, being haunted by nightmares that made him stir around and woke him up in every few hours, leaving him panting and with an even higher fever.

However, while he was awake, Otose found herself wondering, what on earth was this man she had picked up from the graveyard thinking. He kept joking around and making silly comments even when he wasn't feeling well enough to sit up and when his fever went down for a while, he asked for the newest Shounen Jump or strawberry milk. But even though he acted like a complete idiot, she found herself laughing at his jokes. It didn't look as if he was taking anything seriously, not even his own nightmares. The only time he had been serious was when he asked about that man who had tried to rob the bar.

She hadn't seen him after the incident, but having asked around a little, heard that after searching for a well paid job for a few days and failing to get one, he had wanted to commit suicide. Apparently the thing he was afraid of most, was being unsuccessful. Luckily, there was some young boy around, who had beaten some sense into him. The boy said that he was a samurai too, but was now working as a shop assistant, trying to pay off his father's debts. After the man heard that, he did his best to let go of his warrior past and got rid of his sword, which was already broken. Then he abandoned his pride, which had been destroyed after he had tried to rob an old lady anyway, and got a low paying job at some factory. He wasn't exactly happy, but it was still better than leaving his wife and unborn child alone.

When Gintoki was finally well enough, Otose really did make him work for her. She found that he made an excellent security guard and did a good job at making people pay off their tabs before leaving. He also made a great drinking buddy, but his lack of money made him leech off other people so he obviously couldn't drink as much as he wanted. But during daytime, she often caught him sitting, staring off into space, looking bored. And even though he said he enjoyed the kind of life where he didn't really have to do anything, she still made him look for a real job, saying that she didn't actually need a security guard in her bar. Gintoki protested at first, but went job hunting after a while.

He was both hired and fired three times in one week. First, it was a pet shop where all he had to do was feed the fish and keep the shop clean. On the third day, while the owner was out buying food for the animals and he was out on a lunch break, he somehow had managed to leave every cage lock open, letting the animals roam free. The aftermath of that little mishap was catastrophic. Other than a destroyed shop and those three mice that had gone missing, there was also a missing cat and somehow a very happy crocodile. He was fired after he couldn't explain why all the cages had been open.

Then he was hired into a loading job at the docks. He did a good job for a couple of hours, being able to lift heavy weights all by himself, but disappeared in the evening. He was later found sleeping in one of the barrels. When they woke him up, he only said that he didn't give crap about some cargo and that it was cold outside and the barrel was a great place to take a nice long afternoon nap.

After he got fired from his third, a simple delivery job where he had to drive around the city and get people their ordered food, he was sitting again behind the counter, his forehead against the cold wood and hands covering his head.

"So, what did you do this time?"

"It wasn't my fault this time. Or none of the times, actually," he said, his voice muffled through the counter. "Okay, maybe the second time was a little. But still..."

"What did you do then?"

"I said it wasn't my fault. No one told me that the food wouldn't survive through a car crash."

"You crashed a car?"

"The car crashed me. I was just casually driving my scooter. By the way, you know how hard it is to drive a scooter through all this damn snow? Well anyway, suddenly, out of nowhere this huge truck came. I just barely managed to get away in the last second but both the scooter and the takeout did not. Funny thing is, they didn't fire me 'cause I crashed the scooter but 'cause I didn't get the customer his damn takeout. Gotta say, at least they've got their priorities right."

"So, what're you gonna do now?"

"I don't know... I should pro'bly find a new job or something... Ahh, how annoying. I don't wanna do anything anymore. It's such a..."

His whining was interrupted by some loud commotion on the street. There was a quiet yelp and some laughing. Gintoki stopped immediately and sprang to attention. He opened the shoji and the two of them peeked outside.

They saw a group of aggressive-looking men standing in a circle, surrounding something little. Three of the five men were carrying swords which were, without a doubt, illegal. The other two looked like they just weren't trusted with a sword. They had the appearance of a closet and probably also the intelligence to match. The three swords were pointed towards the thing they were laughing at. It turned out to be a little girl lying on the snowy street, hands covering her head, sobbing silently. She looked way too young to be walking around alone without her parents.

"What'cha doin' 'ere li'l girl?"

"Think she doesn't kno' it's our place. We no need yer kinda useless dirty li'l rats 'ere, " another said, and raised his foot with the intention of giving the girl a beating, his companions cheering him on.

But his foot never made the target, because the next thing he saw was a quick flash of red and silver, followed by a little longer flash of the blue sky, ending with the black scenery of the cold ground.

"Aniki!" yelled the gang members, shocked to see their boss flying through the sky and hitting the ground hard with his face and a lazy-looking silver-haired man standing over him.

"Bastard," hissed one of them and pointed his sword towards the man. "How dare you oppose the Anti-Foreigner faction and do this to our Aniki?"

He charged but as his sword almost made contact, he was no longer the one holding it. The back of his head was hit with the hilt of his own sword and he fell down next to his boss, both unconscious. His sword was jammed into the ground next to him.

"You call yourself an Anti-Foreigner faction?" Gintoki looked at the crying girl, hands still covering her head. "Shouldn't you guys be beating up Amanto instead of innocent little girls then?" he asked, picking his nose.

"Ya sonova bitch. Ya makin' fun of us?" said the third man with a sword. He tried to look threatening but after seeing two of his comrades so easily beaten, failed miserably. He motioned the closets behind him to attack on his mark. "This li'l rat 'ere ain't innocent. She keeps goin' 'round askin' weird questions."

"That so? Then let me teach her what kinda questions should never be asked from strangers."

"This district belongs to us. Go find yer own!"

"Aw, man, this is bad. I think I might be going blind then 'cause I can't see your name on it."

"Then ya really are goin' blind." He waved his hand and the closets behind him attacked simultaneously. Gintoki sidestepped one of them easily and dodged a blow from the other, breaking through to the last guy with a sword. He slashed at Gintoki, but missed and then he already had an arm wrapped around his throat, cutting off his flow of oxygen. Gintoki turned to the closets who were slowly starting to understand that they had just lost.

"Listen here. Never get in my sight again. The next time I see you anywhere at all, you'll die," he said calmly, clearly enjoying the dumb faces that were staring at him, unable to do anything to help their comrade. "Now take your stupid gang and get the fuck outta here before I change my mind about not killing you right away."

He let go of the guy and he fell to his knees, coughing. Gintoki watched the closets pick up their three fallen gang members, two still unconscious, and run away. The few spectators on the street quickly got back to their own business after Gintoki sent them a glare. Then he walked up to the girl who was still lying on the street, sobbing.

"Hey, are you hurt?" he asked softly. When she didn't give an answer, he continued, "It's okay now, those thugs are gone." The girl still didn't react. "They looked pretty damn pathetic while running away, too. You should've seen them."

The girl slowly looked up to Gintoki with tears in her terrified eyes. She was shivering.

"It's freezing out here," He pointed at Otose who was standing smoking at the door. "See that old hag over there? She has a nice warm place and I bet if you asked nicely she'd also give you a cup of tea. So wipe that snot off your face and get in there already."

To that, the girl suddenly started screaming, huge tears dripping from her eyes, and hugged Gintoki, clinging to his feet, almost making him lose his balance.

"Whoa, hey, stop it, brat. You're getting snot on my clothes. It'll be troublesome to wash it out later," he said and tried to get her off his feet. She refused to let go, making walking an impossible option for Gintoki. He turned to Otose who was clearly amused seeing Gintoki have trouble with a small child. "C'mon, damn old hag, stop giggling like a schoolgirl on her first date and help me out here a little."

"Your kid, you deal with it," said Otose and disappeared into the bar.

"No, waaait! It's definitely not my brat! You're coming back, right? Please say you're coming back! I don't know how to treat children! Hey! Please come back! Pleaaase! Someone, get me out of here! I hate snotty little brats! Heeey!"

When Otose showed no sign of coming to his aid, he looked down at the still crying girl who clearly had no intention of letting go. He sighed and with one swift movement, twisted himself out of her grip and picked her up. Then he went to the bar, mumbling something about how everyone abandoned him and that humankind should never be trusted, carrying the girl who was now clinging to his neck, face buried into his kimono.

x

Although they tried everything from offering sweets as bribe to gentle force, it still took an hour to the girl to calm down enough before she could be removed from around Gintoki's neck. Now she was sitting on a bar chair, one hand still squeezing Gintoki's sleeve, other holding a steaming teacup, with a pile of candy in front of her. Gintoki, sitting next to her, made subtle attempts to steal her candy in every once in a while.

"Can you tell us your name?" asked Otose for the fifth time. She didn't like pestering people like that, but they hadn't got a word out of her yet, and it was impossible to help her if she didn't say what was wrong.

The girl looked down and whispered something.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't hear what you said."

"She said her name was Mai," said Gintoki. "Geez, granny, first you have Alzheimer's, now you're deaf too? Just how many health problems do you have?" He tried to snitch a candy but only received a slap against his hand from Otose. "Oww... I didn't know you were so violent, granny. Well, at least you don't have muscle atrophy, that's for sure. You didn't have to hit so hard, y'know. That hurt!" he whined, rubbing his hand. Mai smiled.

Otose glimpsed at her and then at Gintoki, who had also noticed her smile. "Then stop trying to steal candy from children, you perm-headed bastard."

"It's not like she's eating them anyway! I just don't like wasting food!"

"Candy isn't even proper food!"

"That's why she's not eating any!"

"Now you're contradicting yourself!"

"Why does everyone just assume that brats like candy anyway, huh? Not all children want to be unhealthy, y'know!"

"But you're plenty unhealthy for any child out there! A grown man shouldn't eat so many sweets!"

Mai started giggling. They stopped their argument.

"Mai-chan, right?" asked Otose.

She nodded.

"Can you tell me how old you are?"

She put down her cup and raised her free hand.

"Five?"

She shook her head, raised her hand again, showing all five fingers, then made a fist and raised one more finger.

"Six, huh? You're quite the big girl then, aren't you?"

She nodded proudly.

"But Mai-chan, why were you alone? Where are your parents?"

Mai winced, grabbed Gintoki's sleeve with both of her hands and hid her face. Both Gintoki and Otose sighed. They still hadn't got anything out of her. Well, at least they now know her name.

"C'mon, Mai-chan," said Gintoki, a little annoyed. He tried to detach himself from her surprisingly strong grip. "Let go of my sleeve, I need to take a piss. Ah!"

"What's wrong?" asked Otose.

"She's asleep."

"What? No way."

"She fell asleep," repeated Gintoki. "On my sleeve. While being interrogated... Well that's annoying. Why'd she have to choose me? Man, I hate snotty little brats."

There was a moment of silence in the bar. Then Otose spoke.

"I understand why you didn't want to kill that man from back then. He hadn't really done anything that couldn't be fixed. Besides, I guess you know pretty well what he'd been through. But there was probably nothing good in these thugs. Your skills are pretty good, right? Why didn't you just take them out?"

"That's because... Well," he scratched his head, "I don't really like killing."

Otose nodded. She would've been happy with that.

"And," Gintoki breathed in slowly, "If I had killed them, I'd have to face the same fate myself." He breathed out again and said, smiling that sad smile again, "If I didn't, I'd really be contradicting myself."

This time, the silence in the bar was longer. Now it was Gintoki who broke it.

"We should put her somewhere before you open up," he suggested.

Otose was happy she could drop the topic. It was hard seeing a young man smiling that kind of smile. She ordered him to bring Mai to her room saying that she'd watch over her this night. Gintoki agreed readily.

* * *

**Author's notes**: I went to a Green Day concert a few days ago. Billie Joe wrapped himself into the flag and fell asleep on stage while a giant pink bunny jumped around him and flipped us off. It was adorable.

Anyway, this chapter was a little lighter in mood. At least I think it was a little lighter. But don't worry, I'll get back to darker stuff in the next chapter. I think. I probably will.

Also, it seems that this story will have... some chapters. I got my future more or less cleared out (at least I won't be sitting home for the rest of my life) so I should have the time to write.

My love for reviews has not changed, so it doesn't matter if it's critical or not, don't be afraid to drop me one.

I have a feeling like I forgot something important but I'm too sleepy to figure out what it was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** Day 769. I still don't own Gintama.

And everything else is written before the first chapter because I'm still too lazy to write it again. Or even copy it. Damn, I think I just worker harder by telling that I don't want to work harder.

**Author's notes:** I received many wonderful reviews with the last chapter too and I'm very, very thankful for them. I'd also like to thank every single one who didn't review, but followed or favourited or just read. If I could, I'd send you all a truckful of candy.

I'm sorry this chapter took so long. I promise that I haven't abandoned this story. For some reason it was just really hard for me to write this chapter.

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**Chapter 3**

When Otose woke up late the next morning as usual, the first thing she saw was that Mai was missing. When she closed up last night and went to her room, Mai had definitely been there, sleeping on an extra futon. The mattress and the pillow were still here, but both the blanket and Mai were not. There was no way Otose would have slept through a break-in, so Mai must have gone off by herself.

She got dressed quickly, then looked into the barroom first and finding it empty, went to wake up Gintoki to see if he knew where she was. She pushed the sliding doors aside not at all carefully.

"Hey, Gintoki! Wake up! Mai-chan is..."

She stopped. First, the problem at hand was no longer a problem, and second, she saw something that made her blink her eyes in disbelief. Gintoki was lying on his futon staring at the ceiling with an annoyed-to-hell-and-back look on his face. But that wasn't what surprised Otose. On top of Gintoki slept Mai, snoring quietly through her nose, arms around Gintoki's chest.

"Finally!" he whispered. "Please get this brat off of me! She's been like this for the most of the night and every time I try to move she just clings on to me even harder."

Otose felt a little guilty. Mai was supposed to be in her room, not walk around the house in the middle of the night, finding Gintoki and hugging him like he was a giant teddy bear. After a few minutes they managed to free him from the little girl's grip, giving her a pillow to hug instead.

"Ah, this isn't good," he said, standing up stiffly and glaring at Mai like she was some kind of monster. "I can't feel my legs. I think they have to be amputated."

"You wouldn't be standing if it was that bad," remarked Otose. "I'll go make breakfast. You try to wake her up."

Otose went to the kitchen to make breakfast. She had learned that even though Gintoki wasn't too useful at cooking in the mornings as he never wanted to wake up early enough, but when she left him with an order to make a lunch, dinner, or snacks for the customers along with a threat of throwing him out if he didn't make himself useful, his cooking was splendid. For the first few times it was his turn to cook, he had seemed a little out of practice, even though the food was still delicious. But after he got the hang of it again, Otose could tell that behind all that whining he actually enjoyed it, making dishes that could easily compete with that over-expensive stuff they served at the most famous restaurants.

When Gintoki entered the barroom ten minutes later, alone, saying that he couldn't wake Mai up no matter what he did, breakfast was ready. Most people probably wouldn't even have noticed it, but Gintoki looked a little tired, like he hadn't slept all night, and Otose thought she knew why.

"Are you still having those nightmares?"

"Umm... Sometimes. It's not that bad anymore, though. Nothing to worry about. _Itadakimasu!_"

He was a great liar, didn't even blink an eye, but Otose had been a bartender for years and could recognise a lie from miles away.

Ever since she picked him up from the graveyard, he looked a little better every day. He wasn't that thin anymore, every other noise from the street didn't make him reach for his sword only to realise that it wasn't there a second later, and his jokes were gradually getting better, and dirtier, as time passed. And the best thing was that he almost never looked that broken anymore. However, it seemed that his nightmares were just as bad as they were back then. That was probably also the reason he hadn't caught even the little sleep he could have. He was most likely afraid of waking Mai, or even hurting her with one of his nightmares. She sighed.

"You know, I can't have an unemployed good-for-nothing man living off my generosity forever." Something that could've been fear flashed in his eyes but it was so fast, she wasn't quite sure. "You've probably already noticed that there's a second floor. It's been empty ever since the last tenant moved out. The old guy used it as a wood workshop or something and left almost everything behind when he left a year ago, so it's a little messy. I also used it as a warehouse for a while. I can rent it to you, if you want. And if you clean it up yourself I'll give you the first month free."

"What? Really, Granny? Yay! Thanks!" He looked a little too eager to get something for free. Though it might have been just because he probably hadn't had a place he could really call home for a while.

"I'm only doing this because it's troublesome to have an unused second floor. Don't be so happy." She reached under the counter and handed him the key. "Most of the things piled up there are just trash anyway so feel free to throw away everything you won't need."

x

Mai was still asleep when Gintoki came back down an hour later. He was covered with dust and was dragging a large garbage bag behind him, but he seemed to be in exceptionally good mood.

"Hey, Granny, what trash goes out today?"

"Remember it already, will you? It's Wednesday, so today it's recyclable trash."

"Damn," he kicked the bag behind him. "This is definitely not recyclable."

"What's in there?"

"Found the last tenant's porn stash. And honestly, just how much of a pervert was that dude? This thing should be burned, completely obliterated from the face of Earth if possible." He kicked the bag again. "I didn't even know they made these magazines for old people. Who'd buy them? Just thinking about what I saw in there makes me want to throw up."

"Hey, are you calling old people ugly?"

"Idiot! When talking about porn you can only refer to young ladies!"

He received a sake bottle against his head.

"Do not call me an idiot, you stupid braindead freak-haired brat," she said, lighting a cigarette.

"Oww..." Gintoki moaned from the floor. "That's what you're mad about? Geez..."

"Anyway," she pointed to the bag, "Good porn or bad, it's still paper. So it should be recycled."

"_Technically_ paper. But this poor paper has been abused so badly I think it's better to let it rest in peace so it wouldn't have to go home in shame later. Besides, do you know what they use recycled paper for? No, no, I don't even want to think about it. It's better to just burn this paper. But then again... I'd have to drag it back up and wait until..."

"Friday," she sighed.

"...Friday to take it out again. I don't want to be under the same roof with _these _dirty magazines for more than absolutely necessary. Yeah, sorry paper, but you're gonna end up as toilet paper after all."

"You're making no sense at all."

"Oh, by the way," he reached into his kimono. "Who're the dudes in the picture? Did it belong to the old perv? Or are they your children or something?"

"What picture?"

Gintoki handed Otose a picture with two young men in it. One of them had white hair and a scar on his face, and the other one was with brown hair, a smug smile, and a jitte in his hand.

"Where did you find it?" she smiled, feeling nostalgic.

"Behind that empty picture frame over the desk."

"Oh? I wonder how it got there. Anyway, I don't have children. My husband, Terada Tatsugorou, the dark-haired one on the picture, died young. The other one was his best friend. I think he still lives here somewhere. Haven't seen him for a while, though."

"Hmm, so that's your whole family then?" he looked mildly interested.

"Yeah. That's all. How about you? Do you have a family out there somewhere?"

"Nah, not really," Gintoki answered simply, picking his nose. He didn't look sad, maybe just a bit lonely.

"No parents?"

"Don't remember."

"Siblings?"

"Not that I know of."

"Lover?"

"Never had the time to get serious with that," he shrugged lightly and flicked a booger at the trash bag.

"So you were alone?" Otose shook her head in disbelief. Gintoki froze, and lowered his gaze until his hair covered his eyes.

"My sensei was the closest I had to a family. But that's over too now," he said quickly and stiffly, as if every word hurt. The change in mood was so sudden, it left Otose speechless for a moment.

"Sorry. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Gintoki raised his head again. His expression was painfully similar to the lost and broken one he had back then in front of her husband's grave. Whatever had happened, it must have been horrible to break somebody down like that. Gintoki probably thought that being indebted to her, she had the right to inquire about his past and he the obligation to answer truthfully. He may have been damaged and swordless, but he was still a samurai with all his honour.

"No, I'm the one who..." He started but flinched and turned around before he could finish. "Oh, Mai-chan, you're awake," he said when he realised who was holding onto his kimono again. All the pain had vanished from his voice and expression in a second's notice, but judging by the tension in his shoulders, he hadn't quite regained his composure yet.

"Gin-chan, are you okay?" Mai asked quietly. She seemed to have noticed it too.

Gintoki smiled and ruffled her hair. "Sorry about that. I'm just fine, Mai."

"But..."

"You're really considerate for a brat, but you don't have to worry about me."

"But if Gin-chan is alone..." The bar went silent; she looked at the floor and whispered, "I don't want anyone to be alone like me."

This was the first time Otose saw Gintoki so stunned. She slowly exhaled smoke from her cigarette.

"Mai-chan, are you hungry? Let's get you some breakfast, shall we?" At the mention of food Mai quickly abandoned her glum mood and smiled. Otose then turned to Gintoki who still hadn't moved. "What are you spacing out for, you perm-head? Stop that and think of a way to make it up to Mai-chan for getting her worried, instead."

"A-ah, right," he pointed at the trash bag. "I'm... I'm just gonna take this outside. I'll be right back."

"What's in the bag?" Mai asked cheerfully.

"Aren't you a chatty nosy little brat," he murmured, looking almost normal as he dragged the bag to the door. "Just a proof of humanity's degeneration..."

He received another sake bottle against his head.

"Ow! Again? Man, what did I do this time?"

"Just take out the trash and don't get lost on your way back. I'll make you some tea."

He looked at Otose who was smiling at him and then at Mai who was laughing chirpily, clearly enjoying Gintoki's painful experience with a sake bottle. He considered something for a moment.

"Then I'll take oolong tea," he informed and walked out the door.

"Hey! Don't make requests!" Otose yelled after him.

x

Gintoki did not, in fact, get lost on his way back. It just took him 10 minutes to find the door. He even suggested Otose to put the door into a more noticeable location as he stepped in. Now he was sitting at the counter sipping at his oolong tea, Mai on his left mimicking his movements.

"So, Mai," he said. "Care to tell us why those thugs were picking a fight with a six-year-old?"

"I..." she frowned. "I wanted to know where Mommy went. Those guys looked like they would know something about the war so I asked. I didn't know it would make them angry."

"What do you mean?"

"Mommy said Daddy went to fight in a war and that she was going to find him and bring him back home. Then she left me at Uncle's place and I haven't seen her anymore."

Gintoki and Otose exchanged a glance. Everyone still alive after the war, who still had a home to return to, should have made it back by now. So if her father never came back then that could only mean two things. He either found himself a new home and made a new family, or was already dead. Judging by the way Mai's mother loved her husband enough to abandon her own daughter, it was probably the latter.

"When did she leave, Mai-chan?" Otose asked.

"I think it was two months ago. I'm sure she will come back home with Daddy soon."

Two months were enough for the mother to realise that her search was futile.

"So where is your uncle? Wouldn't he be worried about you by now?" Both Otose and Gintoki had tried to ask around last night, but no one knew anything about a missing child named Mai.

"I don't know. He goes away often and usually comes back in two or three days. That's okay, he always leaves me everything I might need while he's gone. But he has never been gone for five days. I wonder if he's alright."

"Do you like your uncle, Mai-chan?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "He's kind and funny and he always plays with me when he's home. But..."

"But you don't like it when he leaves, right?"

She shook her head. "I love Uncle, but I wish he'd be home more. I want Mommy to come back, too. The house is scary at nights when I'm alone."

'_I don't want anyone to be alone like me,' _she had said. And she had clung to Gintoki, not letting him go even when sleeping. She accepted even a stranger's company just to relieve her loneliness, and that same abandonment made her ask questions from sketchy guys, hoping they would know where her mother might be. She was left alone just like Gintoki was, but unlike Gintoki, who was now searching for something he could protect but at the same time was afraid it would break apart once again, she had yet to experience loss and was much more optimistic about her family and happiness ever returning.

"I once asked where Uncle was going all the time," Mai continued. "He said something like, _'I'm going to go not face my problems.'_ I don't know what he meant by that."

Gintoki clicked his tongue irritably. Otose resisted an urge to snap out that he wasn't that much better himself, and instead just pointed at him with a cigarette.

"So, Mai-chan? What do you want this idiot to do for you? I'm afraid we won't be able to find your mother right away, but we can help you look for your uncle right now."

Mai made a small gasp and looked Otose and then Gintoki. "You'll help me? Do you know where Uncle is?"

Gintoki emptied his teacup. "Well, I _did_ make a six-year-old worry and can't say I feel too good about that. I do have to make it up to you. Besides," he turned to Otose, "I think we have a pretty good idea where that uncle of yours might be, right, Granny? The question is where should I start?"

Otose suggested checking her home first in case her uncle had returned. Then she gave Gintoki a list of the most popular bars and clubs in the area and promised to use her connections in the town to gather some information herself.

"Oh, yeah," Gintoki said as he was about to leave with Mai. "You're not lost, are you Mai? You know where your home is, right?"

"I know where home is..." she answered and Gintoki let out a relieved sigh, but Otose suspected something.

"Do you also know how to get there?" she asked.

Mai smiled apologetically.

"Are you serious?" Gintoki ran a hand through his hair. "Well, whatever. Let's just walk around until you recognise something. I got a little cash from pachinko yesterday. Let's go waste it on strawberry milk!"

"Yay!" Mai exclaimed happily and skipped to his side. "But I like coffee milk more."

"What? How dare a brat like you have a more mature taste than me?"

Otose watched them leave, Gintoki preaching Mai about how children should eat more sweet things and Mai laughing, jumping around, trying to take his hand. As they walked down the street they looked like two children bickering about who would get the last cookie in the jar. The bar was left uncomfortably empty.

* * *

**Author's notes:** I'm sorry if this chapter didn't really live up to your expectations. As I said, it was really hard for me to write it. I actually found myself staring at the last two pages for an hour because there was something bothering me but I still couldn't figure out what it was. Maybe I'll figure it out a little later and will reupload the chapter when I finish the next one.

Anyway, I asked a friend of mine to make a new **cover picture** for this story (it cost me a Happy Meal) but she isn't done with it yet so I'll just add it when she's done. But since I do need to credit her for that and it would be a pain to edit this in later, I'll just drop her deviantart here for now: **chillycatx. deviantart. com** (This website doesn't allow me to add links normally so you'll just have to remove the spaces in between.)

I know that this chapter wasn't exactly top-notch, but I'd still like to know your opinion on it. So please review if you can.

I will try to get the next chapter done before school starts again in September.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Nah, man.

**Rating:** T

**Pairings: **None

(I discovered that it's easier to copy all that stuff.)

**Author's notes**: Well, I _did_ promise that I would upload this chapter before school starts in September. I'm glad to say that I managed to keep my promise, as school starts tomorrow morning. (Ughh...) By the way, thank you all my wonderful reviewers who assured me that the last chapter didn't suck as much I thought it sucked.

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**Chapter 4**

The sun had set more than an hour ago and the streets were only vaguely illuminated by the full moon, a few street lamps, and some flashy shop banners. There were already a few customers in the bar when Gintoki stepped into Snack Otose, Mai sleeping soundly, being carried on his back.

It had taken Gintoki and Mai half a day and two visits to local cafes for a parfait and a snack break, but eventually they found her home. Unfortunately, the house was empty and the neighbours hadn't heard anything. They didn't even know that there was a small girl living alone in there.

When Gintoki saw Mai getting tired of their trip to the many bars and clubs in Kabukicho in search for her uncle, he wanted to return to the bar, but Mai insisted that they searched further. During their third snack break, which was held pretty late, Mai had fallen asleep right by the table.

Gintoki looked even more exhausted under the fake fluorescent light of the bar than he had been in the morning. Otose told him to go get some sleep, but he just shrugged off her concern saying that the night was the best time to be searching for a drunkard and disappeared into the night again.

"Hey, Otose-san? Where did that guy go?" one of the regulars asked a little later, cheeks flushed and eyes shining from alcohol.

"Who? Gintoki?"

"Yeah, yeah, him. The guy with white hair. The one who's been here every night for the last few weeks."

All the customers were already at least a little tipsy and everyone turned their attention to Otose and the man, hoping for an interesting conversation.

"I'm not sure," Otose shrugged. "He went off to search for something. Why? Does he owe you a drink or something? You should give up on that. There's no way you'll ever see that drink."

"No, not that. I was just wondering that you have kept this bar by yourself for years, right? I always thought you didn't want any staff here."

"Staff? Are you kidding? I'd never have him as a staff member. He's too unreliable for that."

"Then why's he here?"

"He made me a promise when... It's not my place to tell you about him, actually. Why don't you ask about it yourself? I'm not sure if he'll answer you, though."

"But if he's so unreliable, how do you know he'll keep the promise?"

"He hasn't broken it yet and he's had enough opportunities to do so. I think he'll keep his word. At least for now," Otose added.

"I wouldn't trust him that much. Who the hell is he? Where did he come from anyway? And what's up with that weird white hair and those creepy red eyes? He looks suspicious."

"But you know, he reminds me of something," another joined in. "A friend of mine fought in the _Joui _war and he said there was a real demon fighting amongst them; a demon with white hair dyed red with enemy blood as he tore across the battlefield. They called him Shiroyasha."

"I heard about him too," a third one said. "They said he once completely annihilated an enemy company of 200 all by himself."

"I heard it was 500," the first one said. "I doubt he was real, though. He was probably made up just to encourage the troops. No one, no matter how good, could pull off something like that."

"Oh, he was real, alright," the second argued. "My friend personally knew Katsura Kotarou and Shiroyasha. But it was the two of them who held back an enemy army of 1,000 so that the rest of them could retreat."

"No, I'm not talking about that. Everyone knows about that," the third waved him off. "I mean the time when the Amanto brought new troops and gunboats. The patriots were almost losing the battle and so Shiroyasha went off by himself to take down one of their ships and everyone on it. And after that feat, exhausted and injured as he was, he still joined the main battle once again. It's like he was always seeking blood. Some even thought it was all he fought for. I think he really was a demon."

"Well, whether he was a demon or not and no matter how many enemies he defeated, he still went missing after the war. Even if he was real, the Shiroyasha was probably captured and executed, if you ask me. I don't think this Gintoki guy can be the Shiroyasha," the man turned to Otose. "But I still wouldn't trust him if I were you, Otose-san. Who knows what he did in his past and what plans he might have with an old lady now," he said wagging a finger at her as if preaching someone remarkably older than himself wasn't weird at all. Otose didn't answer.

x

The first thing Otose confirmed the next morning was if Mai was where she should be. That taken care of, she went to clean up the bar, leaving Mai hugging a pillow on her futon.

Gintoki hadn't come back to Snack Otose last night. Otose had hesitated for a moment when she was about to lock the door but then decided that it wasn't her business to worry about a grown man being alone in the night. She doubted he'd be stupid enough to keep searching until morning. Besides, he now had a place to stay. Even if the second floor wasn't at its best state, he'd probably slept in much worse places than a messy apartment.

And indeed, half an hour later she heard steps on the wooden staircase outside, the shoji opening right after.

"M'rning, Granny," Gintoki mumbled.

"So the second floor is good enough to live in now?"

"More or less, yeah. What's for breakfast?"

"You could make your own breakfast then. This is not a soup kitchen."

"Nah, I don't have the stuff to cook with yet. Gotta get stuff like pots and stuff... and stuff," the great literate yawned, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He honestly didn't look any less tired than yesterday and Otose wondered if the idiot actually had searched for the whole night, trying to escape from his nightmares.

"You have the money to get those?"

"I won pretty big in pachinko, actually. And I more or less did get paid for those jobs I briefly had. Found this pawn shop the other day. Maybe I can get some things cheap from there. And maybe sell some of the trash stored up there," he pointed at the ceiling. "That bokutou looked pretty decent, but most of that stuff is pretty useless. I mean, what the hell would I do with a wooden horse? This is not the Trojan war."

"No one will buy that. I've tried," she said and set out a breakfast, ignoring a knowing smile from Gintoki. The bastard knew she'd be offering him breakfast anyway.

"Who knows, maybe you just lack the skill of a salesperson. Y'know, you gotta turn attention to the good sides of the thing and be careful not to mention the bad sides and then you can sell almost anything for much more than it's worth. That's the secret of getting rich."

"You sound worse than one of those telemarketing frauds. They at least have the courtesy to sell their trash cheap," she remarked and turned on the TV.

'_Good morning! This is Ketsuno Ana! This is my first day working here. I will try my best, so please treat me well! On weather report, today will be sunny! Please look forward to a warm spring day...'_

"She sure seems nice..." Gintoki mused out loud. "Why can't I have a cute girlfriend like her? Ah, right, it's because of my perm. Can't get girls with this natural disaster..." he pulled a strand from his bangs straight and then let it go again. It made a slight _boing _sound as it returned to its original shape.

"Don't blame it on your hair, you pathetic excuse for a man."

"Oi, did you just..."

"Get a job, maybe then you'll get a girl too," Otose continued without letting herself be interrupted.

Gintoki glared at her for a moment, probably considering a retaliation or two for that insult, but then decided that he didn't really care what he was called. "Nah, that's too much work. Besides, searching for a little girl's lost uncle is kind of a job. A tough job at that, too. Turns out the dude's like a ghost. No one has never even heard of him. Maybe it was a little premature to guess he was a simple drunkard," Gintoki yawned again.

"Fine. If you can find him, I'll let you off this time. Just remember that if you can't pay me the rent next month I _will_ throw you out."

"Yeah, yeah," Gintoki said indifferently.

"By the way, did you know him?" Otose asked.

"Who?"

"Mai's father."

"Riiight... What was his name again?"

"Midorikawa Katsu."

Gintoki sighed and looked into the distance for a few seconds. "Don't think so. We weren't the only ones out there, though. He might have been in a different faction. Besides, _we _did our best to notify the family if something happened. There were others who only wanted to drive out the Amanto and take back the country."

During the past few weeks Otose had learned that there were a number of topics that were better left undiscussed with him as they seemed to stir up painful memories. Well, he would always answer Otose's questions anyway, directly or more often not, even if he looked like he didn't really want to. Gintoki never brought up the war himself, but didn't seem to mind talking about it as long she didn't ask about personal things. But last night's talk with the customers had reminded her the way Gintoki filled the room with a demonic presence when her life was threatened, and that had left her more uneasy than she would've liked, so she decided to ask.

"You weren't one of them? Wasn't that what this war was about?"

"No. Not for me, anyway. I never cared about who runs the country."

Otose almost winced. She didn't fancy the idea of having to teach a blood-crazed demon how to love.

"If you didn't fight for the country then what did you fight for? What did you care about?"

"To be honest, I'm not really sure," there was that sad smile again. "Whatever I thought I was fighting for fell apart pretty fast. For a while I told myself it was for revenge that I kept on going, but that wasn't quite right either. I guess it was to protect as many as I could. Though, in the end I failed at that too."

That statement made Otose feel bad. He had already told her he didn't like killing, and saved both her and Mai without giving it a second thought. She shouldn't have taken those rumours seriously.

"Anyway, I've got some stuff to do before Mai wakes up. I'll take her with me later. Maybe her uncle is using an alias. In that case it's pointless trying to find him by his name only," he yawned again, stretching his shoulders.

"Don't overwork yourself. You look tired. You should try to get some sleep."

"As if I'd overwork myself for some brat. I'm fine," Gintoki assured her. The broken man pushing aside that shoji and squinting his eyes at the sun was no demon to speak of. Only someone too strong and who cared too much for his own good, drowning in sorrow and regret.

x

Gintoki flipped through a pack of money with his thumb, whistling a happy tune that sounded suspiciously like Doraemon theme song. As he had thought, he could sell the wooden horse for a decent price and the old lady from the pawn shop promised to come and check out the other things the day after tomorrow.

After that he went to a pachinko parlour to try out his luck and won there, too. He couldn't understand why Granny was so insistent on him finding a job. If he just kept winning like this at pachinko he'd never have to work again. Hell, he might someday even be rich enough to pay back what he owed to Granny. But as long as he couldn't, he'd just have to keep on answering to her questions whether he liked it or not. Most of the time he didn't really mind. He just wished he could answer her without having a mental breakdown every other time. The only good thing was that he could hide it well enough. This morning, too. If he still could, if all his tears hadn't already dried up, he would've cried. He really hated being an emotional wreck like this, but he didn't want to just ignore her too. After all, Granny had the right to question a stranger after saving his life and helping him more or less get back on his feet again. She'd already done too much for him and she was _still _worried about whether he got enough sleep or not. The damn old hag just cared too much and that made him slightly uncomfortable.

He was pretty sure he wouldn't get rid of those nightmares for a while, if ever at all. They would come and go in a completely random manner, sometimes waking him up before he could even entirely fall asleep and sometimes they'd take him off-guard only after a few hours of sleep. So he might as well take Granny's advice and try to take a nap if Mai's still sleeping. The early spring sun shining in the blue sky made him feel snugly drowsy and he thought he might be able to catch a few hours of sleep right now.

There was a small crowd in front of Snack Otose, making him wonder what was going on. He knew he should check it out, but felt too lazy to actually care. He was sure Granny could handle things like this well enough on her own. Maybe he could actually use the crowd to sneak past the bar without Granny noticing him. He could use the extra time to sleep a little. She'd probably come search for him upstairs and wake him up if he wasn't back in a few hours.

"_...Maybe we should call the police..."_

"_...Idiot, the police are useless around here, especially with _them_..."_

"_...But somebody should do something..." _

"_...Are you kidding me? I don't want to get involved with them..."_

There was obviously something wrong with the crowd. One foot on the stairs, Gintoki peeked past them and felt his heart sink. The shoji doors were carelessly kicked away and as much as he could see, the bar was a mess. His sense of dread grew even more when he couldn't see or hear Granny anywhere. Something had happened and he wasn't there to stop it.

Not turning any attention to the angry protests, he made his way through the crowd pushing aside anyone unfortunate enough to be in his way, and looked inside. There was broken glass and wood on the floor, two broken tables, and all the chairs were pushed over. There were deep cuts on the counter. It seemed to have taken damage from some kind of bladed weapon.

He turned on his heel, grabbed the first man behind him by his collar, and hauled him closer.

"What happened here? You have five seconds," he hissed at him in pure fury. He probably should've been nicer to him, but he needed answers fast.

The man winced at the suffocating death threat with his eyes crossed a little due to how close the threat was to his nose.

"I don't know! I was just passing by! It was already like this! Let go!" He tried to loosen the iron grip on his kimono.

"Tch, useless," Gintoki spit out, grabbed his arm and threw him into the crowd, not moving from his stance, and not caring if anyone got hurt. Then he raised his voice a little so that it could be heard by everyone, but not enough to be yelling. "I don't care who, just tell me what happened here."

Silence was all he received. These bastards were only a waste of time. But as he turned back to the bar a quiet voice called out behind him, "I-I saw what happened. It was some kind of Amanto. They took the little girl and trashed the place, then walked away."

"What about Granny?" he clenched his fists. He knew he couldn't hide the desperation in his eyes. He knew he shouldn't have tried to protect anyone anymore. He should have learned his lesson already. "I'm asking, where is Otose?! _And where are those bastards now?!"_ he didn't bother with trying to keep his voice even anymore. He'd kill those bastard freaks for messing with his life when it was about to turn almost normal for the first time in so long.

The crowd had already started to dissipate as most of them didn't want to have anything to do with this. Kabukicho was full of different spectacles that sometimes didn't involve a threat to their lives and in some rare cases not even crazy people. Gintoki didn't care about them. If they weren't useful, he'd just have to find out the assholes behind the destroyed bar by himself. He stepped in and looked closer at all the details he could see. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and think straight.

Those dents on the destroyed tables suggested to some kind of hoofed Amanto. As far as he knew, there were a number of hoofed Amanto on Earth, but only a few of them were openly hostile. So it either had to be the boar type, the moose type, or the bison type. That could prove to be a problem if he didn't have a proper weapon with him.

The cuts on the counter were deep and had ragged edges. _'Definitely not a katana. Probably a heavy two-handed sword; not professionally mastered,'_ Gintoki noted grimly to himself. That would exclude both the boar type and the moose type Amanto. The boar type would rely on their knowledge on ranged weapons and the moose type on their horns rather than any kind of weapons at all. That means that he'd have to find a band of bison type Amanto who probably had someone controlling them, or they wouldn't have bothered themselves with simple earthlings. They weren't exactly the smartest Amanto out there, but they certainly knew who were lower than them and how to make sure they knew _exactly_ just how much lower they were.

But he still couldn't figure out why they would attack a bar in the middle of the poorest part of Edo. Maybe someone had figured out who he was and wanted to pay back for everything he had done during the war. He doubted that was the case, as unlike Takasugi and Zura he had managed to keep his real name hidden, but it wouldn't have surprised him, either. He _had_ been quite famous, after all.

Well, whatever the cause, he'd find the answers when he'd trash their embassy. He didn't have anything to protect, so he didn't care if he ended up with a capital punishment. He just needed to pick up some kind of a weapon from somewhere on his way.

"Gintoki? What happened here?" someone asked right behind him.

* * *

**Author's notes:** Is that a cliffhanger? It iiis, isn't it? I made a cliffhanger, didn't I? Woah.

As I had to hurry to get this chapter out tonight, I didn't have the time to properly edit it, so there might be some minor errors and sentences that make little to none sense. I'm sorry for those. If I find any while rereading it tomorrow, I will correct them. I might also add some minor adjectives where I thought some were missing and lift some sentences around a little. But no big changes.

Anyway, with 26 pages and 11,358 words in the Word document (man, I love to blabber pointlessly in this author's notes thing) this is the longest thing I've ever written, and hey, look at that, I'm still more or less on the original plot line. That's a wonderful achievement for me. I usually struggle with staying on topic with 400 word essays.

Also, as I've been quite busy this month, so I haven't had the time to answer to all those amazing reviews yet. I'll do that tomorrow, too. However, I still humbly ask for your reviews. I can assure you, my heart goes all doki-doki and stuff like in shoujo manga when I receive a new one.

Since I'm not sure how much free time I will have starting now, I don't know how much I'll be able to write. That means that I can't say when the next chapter will be out. Just know that I'm not sadistic enough to leave you guys with a cliffhanger.

Oh yeah, the **cover picture **is made by her: **chillycatx. deviantart. com **(This website doesn't allow me to add links normally so you'll just have to remove the spaces in between.)


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